Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo, the health minister of
Madagascar, recently picked up a scalpel and separated conjoined Siamese
twins in a medical first for the Indian Ocean island nation.
According to Agence France Presse, Jean Marie Rasamimanana, the
deputy technical director at the hospital in the capital Antananarivo,
told AFP on Tuesday that: “Surgery was performed at the Joseph
Ravoahangy Andrianavalona hospital on September 13 to separate Siamese
twins joined at the abdomen and lower thorax.”
“The separation of the five-month-old twins, Mitia and Fitia,
who weighed 13 kilograms (29 pounds) and were delivered by caesarian
section, involved the separation of their liver, ribs and diaphragm,” he said, adding that the pair were doing well following their operation.
The surgery was a medical first for Madagascar. A medical team from
the country successfully separated Siamese twins in 2009, but because
of a lack of equipment in the island’s hospitals, the surgery was
performed in Paris.
Andriamanarivo, the minister and paediatric surgeon, reportedly
praised the breakthrough and said it would save the island’s medical
system a small fortune as a comparable surgery would have cost 100,000
euros ($120,000) if performed overseas.
Madagascar is one of the world’s poorest nations and more than 90
percent of its 25 million people live on less than $2 per day. Almost
half of under fives suffer development issues.